Erik Booth From The Marquette Board of Light and Power Guests This Morning on InTheRightMind

Today’s show had guest Erik Booth from the Marquette Board of Light and Power talk about the filling of the Tourist Park basin.

History Of The Tourist Park Dam

In 2003 there was a big flood in Marquette, the Silver Lake Basin Dam broke and 9 billion gallons of water poured out. Most of the dams held downstream except for the Tourist Park Dam. It had been standing for 103 years before the flood. Since then, there has been the effort to rebuilt the dam. Many different agencies had come in, and now after quite some time the basin is now half full and filling.

Guest Erik Booth from the Marquette Board of Light and Power

In the studio this morning was Erick Booth, the project manager from the Marquette Board of Light and Power to talk about the dam.

There was a huge rally from the community to want the lake back, from the City Commission to residents, including a 1300 signature petition from residents in support of having the lake back again. This also gave a chance for the City Commission to work with the Board of Light and Power.

Obstacles were mostly rooted in permits and also the fact that the Board Of Light and Power hadn’t had a big project since the 1980’s. There was a wait to build, which was helped by the fact that the Silver Lake Basin was rebuilt in the meantime. But the people in the DEQ and the EPA has no experience of how the lake was before the flood. A lot of the time was spent getting the departments up to speed.

For wetlands, the project brought in a wetland scientist and the wetlands were put in around the lake based on the old topography.

There were also public hearings on whether or not to have a river or lake. The public came out and had support in favor of rebuilding the lake.

Caller #1 today asked Erik if there is going to be a boat ramp for the Tourist Park lake. Erik replied that they asked the city about this and the city plan to continue to use the Tourist Park access. The caller hopes that the city will upgrade and repair the existing boat access.

Caller #2 asked what the capacity of the generator is for the dam. The capacity of the generator of 3/4th of a megawatt, but it won’t be running at full capacity but it would be running at a better capacity than wind turbines.

Caller #3 this morning called in to say that her son was in the building next to one of the dams that failed and luckily made it out before the building was destroyed.